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Protect Białowieża Forest - sign the appeal
 * About the forest
 * Threats
 * Bark beetle
 * Protection
 * Voice of science

Polski
 * 
 * 

I support the protection of the entire Białowieża Forest in Poland: the last
European lowland natural forest and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its unique
ecosystem and ecological processes have to be protected from destruction by
human intervention. I support the voice of science to exclude old-growth forest
stands from silvicultural activities, and I support prioritization of
non-intervention practices. Preservation of this unique forest has to exclude
standard forestry practices, such as sanitation cutting down and salvage logging
as a response to bark beetle outbreaks. Save Białowieża Forest for the future
generations in the natural state.


ABOUT THE FOREST

The Białowieża Forest extending over 1600 km2 between Poland and Belarus is the
last large remaining fragment of the natural forest of the European Plain.
Exceptionally biodiverse, the forest is home to more than 5,500 plant species,
and 11,564 animal species, including the largest population of free-ranging
European bison. Animals from the large carnivores like wolves and lynxes, to the
rare nesting songbirds, woodpeckers, and owls all rely on the forest for their
habitat of old growth and standing dead trees. Białowieża Forest is a hotspot of
unique biodiversity and a fascinating source of scientific knowledge, and stands
as a much needed ecological blue-print for the restoration of forests in Europe
and the world.




THREATS

In 2012, the Minister of the Environment approved the Forest Management Plans
for the three Forest Districts of the Białowieża Forest that met recommendations
of the European Commission, given requirements to protect integrity of this
Natura 2000 site. The approved management plans limited timber extraction and
ensured the protection of 100-year old stands. This was recognized as a solution
which supported local needs for timber while safeguarding the ecological
uniqueness of the Forest.

Unfortunately increased timber harvesting, formally justified by the need to
curb bark beetle outbreak, greatly exceeded the annual plans and constitutes a
serious threat. This significant increase of the average annual limits of timber
harvesting have resulted in an update of the Forest Management Plan 2012-2021
for one out of three Białowieża Forest districts. The update includes threefold
increase of logging, removal of snags and does not guarantee the protection of
forest stands older than 100 years. The Ministry of Environment argues that
"active management" by harvesting is needed to protect the forest from spruce
bark beetle outbreaks and fire risk. It stands against modern scientific
research, recommendations of many major scientific institutions in Poland,
violates European law and Poland's agreement with UNESCO. In July 2017 UNESCO
called Poland to stop logging Białowieża Forest. In August 2017 Court of Justice
of EU demanded that all logging in the forest is stopped. So far Poland has not
implemented the Court's decision and logging and removal of old tree stands
continue.


IS BARK BEETLE A THREAT?

The bark beetle outbreaks are driven by multiple factors including spring
weather conditions, drought and spatial configuration of spruce stands. The
coevolution of spruces and bark beetles involved a "cycle" which starts with the
number of beetles peaking, followed by the death of adult spruces in some
patches, which later are characterized by a high regeneration of young spruces.
Thus bark beetles are forest engineers, shaping the long-term dynamics and
structure of the forest, on which many species, like the three toed-woodpecker,
and numerous species saproxylic beetles, depend upon. The forest ecosystem is
more than adult trees in an even-aged stand. Treating bark beetle as a pest from
a forestry perspective to produce timber, is not justified in the context of the
protection of biological diversity and ecological processes, particularly in the
case of Bialowieza Forest. Controlling the outbreak, which probably will
collapse in 1-2 years without any intervention, is not possible without
infringement of the Habitats Directive.

 
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PROTECTION TYPES

The protection of the Bialowieza Forest dates back to the 14th century. It is
now protected by several Polish, European and international protected area
systems such as UNESCO World Heritage List and Natura 2000. 17% of the Polish
side of the Forest is also a national park, although for more than 20 years
scientists and experts have recommended the protection of the entire Bialowieza
Forest as a national park.


NATIONAL PARK

The Bialowieza National Park was first established in 1921 and included in the
list of World Biosphere Reserves in 1977. In 1996 the area of the National Park
was doubled to its current size of 105 km2. A total of 121,8 km2 outside the
National Park were declared as Nature Reserves. The rest of the Bialowieza
Forest has undergone commercial timber extraction and hunting. Many old-growths
are still unprotected, and the silvicultural practices used do not fully protect
ecological processes.


WORLD HERITAGE SITE

The Bialowieza Forest was declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. In 2014,
the UNESCO World Heritage was extended to the whole Polish side of the
Bialowieza Forest. It was inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage List because of
its significant on-going ecological and biological processes and because it
contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ
conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened
species. Find out more here.


NATURA 2000

Since 2004 Bialowieza Forest is a Natura 2000 site, part of the ecological
network for the conservation of wild animals and plant species and natural
habitats of Community importance within the European Union. It consists of sites
classified under the Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive. Natura 2000
protects 92 animal and plant species and 12 habitat types in the 631 km2 of the
Białowieża Forest.


 


VOICE OF SCIENCE

In November 2015 the State Council for Nature Conservation in Poland passed an
official statement against the planned increase in forestry activities. This was
followed by similar statements by the Committee for Nature Conservation of the
Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Scientific Council of the Bialowieza
National Park. Moreover many other scientific institutions and individual Polish
and international scientists issued their statements criticizing plans to
increase logging in the Bialowieza Forest, including Biology and Nature Science
departments of the University of Warsaw, University of Krakow, University of
Wroclaw and University of Katowice.

 
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